April 7, 2025 • 39 mins
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Career plateaus in public health are common experiences that leave professionals feeling stuck and unmotivated, but with reflection and strategic action, they can become springboards for renewed passion and growth.
What's discussed in this episode:
- Four main reasons career plateaus happen: outgrowing your current role, lacking career clarity, not seeing growth opportunities, and experiencing burnout
- Ask yourself key questions to recognize if you're in a plateau: Am I growing? Am I being challenged? Am I excited about my work? Do I feel clear about my future?
- Reassess your career goals by considering how your interests may have changed since entering the field
- Expand your skill set through courses or certifications that align with areas you're curious about
- Seek guidance from mentors or career coaches who can provide perspective and help change your mindset
- Network beyond your organization to discover new opportunities and paths within public health
- Make small career moves like taking on new projects, volunteering, or applying for short-term consulting roles
- Reconnect with your "why" – the values and motivations that initially drew you to public health
- Attend conferences to meet like-minded professionals and immerse yourself in the energy of the field
- Develop a passion project related to public health to channel creativity and reignite enthusiasm
Choose one action step from today's episode and commit to doing it this week.
Share your experience or thoughts on LinkedIn or through the podcast feedback feature.
Remember – don't navigate career plateaus alone, and be patient and kind to yourself through the process.
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
Go from feeling confused, alone and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and in control of your life and career!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to PHSpotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too, your host,
sujani Siva from PHSpot.
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of the PHSpot podcast.
This is a place where we sharestories, inspiration and
(00:25):
guidance to help you build yourdream public health career.
And this is Sujani, your host.
And today we're going to talkabout something that many
professionals experience,including myself, but sometimes
I don't have the words to talkabout it, or maybe we just don't
feel like anyone's going tounderstand, and that's the topic
(00:49):
of career plateaus.
And so this is that feeling ofjust feeling stuck in your
public health career, right, somaybe you've been in the same
role for years and you don't seea path forward.
Or maybe you've applied to newopportunities because you feel
that sense of like wanting to dosomething new, but then you
(01:11):
keep hitting a wall, and thisfeeling of stagnation can often
bring a lot of frustration andeven possibly kind of like
feeling discouraged, right, andI want you to know that you are
not alone and, more importantly,you won't be stuck forever.
So this is something that I'vefelt, I think, in the past year
(01:37):
or two, and I can't confidentlysay that I've kind of navigated
past this feeling of feelingstuck essentially, but I'm
working towards it and I wantedto share that just to give you a
sense of perhaps you know thelength of time that you may be
(01:58):
in this period.
It's not something that I thinkyou can figure out overnight.
It definitely requires a lot ofwork on your end but also a lot
of patience and kindness andgrace.
So just wanted to start offwith that.
So in today's episode we'regoing to break down this idea of
(02:19):
a career plateau by talkingabout why they exist, how you
can maybe recognize the signsthat you are potentially in this
period of feeling stuck,actionable steps that you can
take to break free and moveforward, and then also how to
reignite your passion for thework that you're doing right.
(02:41):
So by the end of this episode Ireally hope that you can walk
away with a clear action plan tonavigate this stage of your
career and just feel like youhave a lot of confidence and
that you have a plan right andknow that it's not going to like
the plan's not going to besomething that you implement
(03:01):
overnight and then boom, you'reout of that feeling of feeling
stuck essentially.
So grab a notebook, settle inand let's get started.
So let's start by talking aboutwhy career plateaus happen in
our careers, in public health,and you know, I bet, that if
(03:22):
you're feeling stuck, there'sprobably a reason behind it,
right?
And from talking to differentindividuals in our community
mentoring and even kind of myown personal experience often I
think the reason falls into oneof these categories.
The reason falls into one ofthese categories.
(03:44):
Number one you've outgrown yourcurrent role, so you feel like
you're doing the same work overand over again, without new
challenges.
You maybe feel like you coulddo your job in your sleep, right
?
It's just this repetitive thingand you're not learning
anything new, and so you arejust going through the motion
(04:05):
and it's just not challenging.
So, essentially, you'veoutgrown your current role.
That could be a reason.
The second reason could be thatyou're lacking career clarity,
so you're unsure about what'snext for you.
You've tried looking at otherjob posting, but nothing is
really exciting.
You, you've tried looking atother job posting, but nothing
(04:27):
is really exciting.
You, and you feel unmotivated,even though you once really
loved this work.
Right?
I know, for me, the reason Ieven started PH Spot was because
I was in this area of lackingclarity and I didn't know what
(04:48):
was next for me, and so ph spotessentially became a channel
through which I was able to findanswers for myself and other
people that were kind ofexperiencing the same thing and
really look for advice andsupport and create a community.
So it's something that I'vefelt very early on in my career
(05:09):
and I think it's something thatI've felt at different periods
of the past 12 years of mypublic health career.
So that's number two.
Number three is maybe a littlebit related to number one and
two.
It's that you're not seeing anygrowth opportunities right?
So you're in this role at anorganization and there's really
(05:31):
no room for promotion in yourcurrent job and you've tried
taking on more responsibilitiesbut it's really not leading you
anywhere and maybe you feel likeyour skills aren't being valued
or recognized, feel like yourskills aren't being valued or
recognized.
So it's really about not seeingany growth at this current
organization or this currentrole.
(05:52):
Number four could be burnoutand lack of motivation.
That could be another reasonthat you're experiencing this
career plateau.
So you are feeling mentallydrained from your work.
You're no longer excited aboutpublic health, for whatever
reason.
You know everything that'shappening in the news, just
feeling defeated, and so everyday just kind of feels like
(06:15):
another day at work andnothing's really inspiring you,
because maybe it's justfrustration over frustration or
being overworked and being kindof like burnt out in your role,
right.
So these are kind of fourreasons that I think individuals
, myself included mightexperience a career plateau.
(06:37):
And the good news is we canbreak out of it, right, and
we're going to talk about that.
But kind of just recognizingthat you know other people
definitely go through it thesecould be potentially some
reasons that you areexperiencing it, and maybe even
just identifying which of thesereasons kind of align with your
(06:59):
current situation will behelpful, okay, so next we're
going to talk about how torecognize the signs of a career
plateau, and so I want you totake a moment to maybe do a
little bit of a reflection,because career plateaus don't
always feel obvious right away.
(07:19):
So I remember for myself, um,kind of five years, four or five
years into my first publichealth job, one that you know I
absolutely loved, learned somuch, was excited about Um, but
after kind of four years I didfeel myself a little bit more
(07:41):
anxious and wanting a wantingsomething different, wanting
something more, a little bitmore anxious and wanting
something different, wantingsomething more.
And so I think, identifyingthose feelings, how your body is
feeling, it's really helpfulfor you to take the next step.
So what you can do is maybe askyourself some of these questions
to really help you figurethings out right.
(08:02):
So here are four questions thatyou can ask.
First one is do I feel like I'mgrowing in my career right now?
Number two am I learning newskills or being challenged?
Number three do I feel excitedabout my work?
Maybe, at least like some ofthe time right, and when I think
about my future in publichealth, do I feel clear and
(08:25):
hopeful?
And if you answered no to mostof these questions, it's
probably time that you tookaction, because you probably
don't want to remain in thisstate.
We want to work on ourselves, wewant to figure out an actual
plan and we want to move pastthis phase, this period, and we
(08:51):
really like break free from this, like plateau that we're
feeling.
So you know you're feelingstuck and now you're like okay,
I've identified that I am inthis phase and these are the
things that I'm feeling.
Now you want to commit togetting unstuck essentially
(09:12):
right, and we'll go through fivestrategies that I've kind of
used and I'm currently using tohelp me navigate this period.
The first one is to reassessyour career goals.
Have your career interestschanged since you first started?
(09:32):
Maybe you entered public healththinking you wanted to work in
epidemiology.
But now, having worked in thefield of epidemiology, you've
also been exposed to a littlebit of health policy and you're
realizing that there's a littlebit of excitement that you feel
(09:53):
whenever you get to provideinput in those pieces of work.
So take the time to reflect atthis phase of your current
career, where do you want to gonext?
And I found that for me I wasworking as an epidemiologist for
(10:15):
several years probably aboutseven years and at that point I
made a conscious decision that Ino longer wanted to proceed as
an epidemiologist.
I couldn't see myself kind ofdeveloping additional skills and
becoming an expert as anepidemiologist and I wanted to
(10:39):
take a different path for mycareer, path for my career.
So about at the seven year markI did make that conscious
decision and I tried a differentarea of work in the same
organization.
So that was kind of my firstpoint in assessing like was the
thing that excited me sevenyears ago or, you know, nine
(11:02):
years ago when I started gradschool.
Still exciting me now?
And at that point it was no.
And then, interestingly enough,when I went on maternity leave,
so I think that was at the 10year mark.
That was another moment ofrealization and I think I'm
still in that phase of trying tofigure out what is my current
(11:23):
interest.
Because what I'm still in thatphase of trying to figure out
what is my current interest,because what I'm realizing is
that I was, and have beenchasing a lot of the goals that
I had put down for myself when Ifirst started off in public
health almost 12 years ago.
I started grad school in 2011and it's 2025, and I hadn't
(11:49):
realized that all the goals andkind of like things I was aiming
for and trying to achieve wereall based on that.
You know, 20 something year oldme, and I'm realizing now that
you know, maybe the reason thatI'm not getting excited about
(12:09):
them at the moment is becausethey are no longer aligned with
the me of now, like 2025.
A lot of things have changedfrom then to now, like I've
moved so many times, um, I'vegotten married, I've become a
mother.
So many things have changed inmy life.
I've moved so many times, I'vegotten married, I've become a
mother.
So many things have changed inmy life I've kind of like
matured.
(12:30):
So I think it's a really goodtime, if you're feeling that
career plateau, to reassess yourcareer goals and think about
your career interests and whereit is at this point in time you
would like to go, right?
So maybe one thing you can dois write down three roles or
(12:51):
fields that interest you andthen start researching them.
Right, talking to people aboutit, reading about it.
We have about 160 odd episodeson the podcast.
Many of them are interviewswith other public health
professionals.
We have a blog whereindividuals have submitted their
career reflections.
(13:12):
So search those up and see ifyou can learn a little bit more
about these different areas.
So that's kind of action.
Number one, right, reassessingyour career goal.
Number two is to expand yourskill set, right?
So sometimes plateaus happenbecause you need a new challenge
(13:34):
, right?
So maybe there's a newtechnical skill like data
visualization or healtheconomics or policy analysis
that you'd like to developbecause you see that it keeps
coming up in your work, right?
So maybe you're doing your work, and every time there's a data
visualization need, you feelfrustrated because you can't do
(13:57):
it yourself and it is somethingthat you would enjoy doing, and
so it's often a piece of workthat you're outsourcing to
another colleague.
So maybe it's time for you toexpand your skill set right, so
you could do this through shortonline courses or certifications
that align with your interest.
Often organizations will havesome career development funds
(14:20):
that you can use towards this,but there are also lots of free
resources online, so expandingyour skill set is another way to
kind of breaking out of thatfeeling of feeling stuck right.
So, for me, another realizationI had was that since grad school
(14:47):
, I had not personally investedin kind of traditional learning
or consciously taken a course tohelp me develop a new skill.
I've been working onstrengthening existing skills,
(15:10):
but there has been nothing newthat I have picked up or
committed to learning throughsome sort of like a course or
certification, and I realizedthat a lot of the strengthening
of skills that I've been doinghave been on the job or they've
(15:30):
been through like mentorship andnothing more of like a formal
process, and so something that Iam hoping to do in the year
this year is to kind of thinkabout going back to number one,
like reflecting a little bitmore about what is a new skill
(15:51):
set that I would like to developthat's going to help me in my
career and kind of like thefuture of my career, right.
So the second one is to thinkabout like are there any skill
sets that you would like todevelop and kind of like expand
on that to develop and kind oflike expand on that.
Number three is to seek out amentor or a career coach,
(16:22):
because sometimes when we'restuck right, we can only see a
certain way, right.
So having a mentor or some sortof a coach help you change that
mindset, reframe some of thethings that you're saying to
yourself can really give youclarity and perspective on your
next steps, hidden strengths andopportunities and essentially
(16:48):
put you on a path to doing likemore reflection and taking more
action.
And it's just you need somebodythat kind of understands you
and your field to help you likeget unstuck.
So imagine you're like in this,like really gooey mud, and your
(17:10):
feet are just stuck in there andyou're like giving up giving up
because you've tried everythingand then somebody gives you a
hand and they just like pull youout a little bit and then
you're like back on and you'reable to kind of navigate through
your path right.
So I want you to seriouslyconsider reaching out, talking
to somebody, because what I'verealized I do a lot of
(17:32):
one-on-one mentorship inside thePHSpot community is that a lot
of individuals will come to meto say like I haven't found a
job or I don't know where to gonext, and I don't necessarily
need to give them the answerLike I don't need to give them
what exactly their next stepshould be, nor do I need to find
(17:56):
them a job but I just need toask them a few questions, give
them some ideas and you know,within like 30 minutes I see a
completely different excitementthat they have, because they
just feel like somebody's pulledthem out of that like really
icky mud and they feel like theycan get back onto the path and
(18:20):
kind of like continue navigatingthrough this journey.
So talking to a mentor or coachsomebody will really help you
get unstuck.
So, as an action step, reachout to somebody in your network
who could offer career guidance,because it's really going to
help you and for me, I think oneof the most like of the most
(18:53):
like pivotal moments.
That has helped me in thesepast two or so years I think
it's a little bit more than twoyears where I've been feeling a
bit stuck, has been going tolike this workshop where we had
to do a lot of self reflectionabout ourselves and where we are
in our lives, and then alsospeaking to a career coach.
I think those two combined Icould say those have been some
pivotal moments in my journey ofgetting a little bit unstuck.
(19:15):
That has helped me and that haskind of given me these aha
moments like, oh okay, yes, Iget why I've been kind of
thinking this way and thisperson has helped me think a
different way and that has kindof opened up some possibilities
in my head, right.
(19:36):
So, number three seek out somesort of mentorship or coaching
support.
Reach out to people in yourcommunity, in your network.
If you feel like you don't haveone, come join the PH Spot
community.
We have a membership communitycalled the Public Health Career
Club.
We do anything from likeworkshops and talks, but we also
(20:00):
have office hours where you candrop in with our wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful mentors whoare able to help you through
just getting unstuck answeringsome questions, and then we also
have one-on-one mentorshipwhere you can book some time
with our mentors and talk tothem about your specific problem
, and we have like social hoursso you can talk to your peers.
(20:22):
So just a wonderful communitywhere you can get this kind of
support.
Number four, with kind ofactionable steps to getting
unstuck, is to network andexplore new opportunities.
Often we can feel like we'restuck because we're only looking
inside our current workplacefor new opportunities or to find
(20:48):
some inspiration.
But if you can step outsideyour current bubble and talk to
new people, people in differentareas of public health there may
be roles or areas of work thatyou haven't even considered yet,
right?
So I think if you can meetpeople who are doing completely
(21:13):
different work, just to have afriendly conversation, to
understand you know what it isthey've done, how have they
navigated their career it'lloften give you a little bit more
like inspiration, motivation tobe like okay, like you know,
they've done something prettycool with a similar, with like
similar experience as me.
(21:34):
It just gives you thosepossibilities and if you're
feeling shy, to kind of likereach out to people at this
moment, the podcast, like Imentioned, has wonderful
interviews with other publichealth individuals and if you
can just listen to a few ofthose and get a little bit more
excited, maybe that'll give youa bit more confidence to reach
(21:56):
out.
And what I want you to do isset up informational interviews,
and so these are essentiallyshort calls with individuals
just to ask them about theircareer journey.
And so set some sort of a goalfor yourself, like maybe you
want to talk to one new personevery month who works in a field
(22:19):
that you're just curious aboutand think creatively.
Right, don't just stick to yourorganization or your city.
Reach out to people around theworld.
The goal here is to really helpyou one network, build your
relationships, explore what'spossible out there and then also
(22:41):
reignite that passion I knowfor me, when I do these podcast
episodes and I interview guestson the podcast, I feel like I am
like vicariously living thatlife and I'm able to get re
excited and and feel likethere's different opportunities
(23:04):
for me to like explore.
A quick story I'll tell you.
I was mentoring somebodyyesterday through our one-on-one
mentorship session and she hasa background in, like, public
health inspection.
So a lot of the opportunitiesshe was looking for were the
traditional public healthinspector role in local health
(23:27):
units, and so when we gottalking we were able to
brainstorm other areas that shecould use her expertise, right.
So we have the hospitalityindustry.
So they often will hireinfection prevention type
professionals to ensure thathotels or cruises are up to
standard.
That, like, hotels or cruisesare up to standard.
(23:50):
Even I think I recently saw amanager of public health role at
Disney or nursing homes, right.
So you kind of are, when youtalk to other people, you're
able to expand on theopportunities that exist for you
, on the opportunities thatexist for you, and that
(24:12):
reignites that passion because,um, you've just been stuck in
this like maybe one box that youyou thought of.
Okay, so that was number four.
Number five, um, is a big oneand it's to make a small career
move, um, and I want to say that, like you don't have to switch
jobs overnight.
That's not the main point here.
A small career move can looklike taking on a new project at
(24:36):
work.
So talk to your manager, yoursupervisor, whoever you're
reporting to, and kind ofexplain to them that you are
wanting a new challenge, right?
So tell them.
You know I'm able to completemy work and I am doing an
exceptional job, but I reallyalso want to develop my skills
(24:56):
in data visualization, mayberight.
So is it possible for me totake on this new project I heard
you talk about and perhapssupport the lead so that I could
develop this new skill set?
So talk to your manager aboutthat.
Another way to make a smallcareer move is to volunteer in a
(25:17):
different area of public health.
So if you've been working moreon like research or like really
high level stuff, and you reallylike to be part of community
initiatives, community outreach,perhaps there's a local
not-for-profit organization thatyou could go and work once a
(25:38):
week for a couple of hours to dosome community engagement
activities, and that will alsohelp you develop some new skills
but also reignite that passionthat you had for public health.
Another thing you could do ifyou have a little bit more time
is to apply for short-termconsulting roles.
(25:59):
Right, there are RFPs, so theseare requests for proposals that
organizations will put out whenthey need a consultant to do a
small project within apredetermined time frame, and so
perhaps you could apply to oneof those and do a short term
(26:19):
consulting role.
You know, the bonus here is youare developing new skills.
You're, you know building upsomething for yourself and
you're going to get paid too,and you know adding a little bit
more to your salary is probablyone of the something that
doesn't hurt.
And so you know RFPs are oneway to take on short term
consulting roles.
(26:40):
But you can also reach out tomaybe past organizations you've
been part of past colleagues,maybe within other organizations
and just pitch the idea, say,hey, you know I am great at data
analysis and if there's anywork that your organization
needs done this year, I amavailable and these are my rates
(27:03):
and I'd love to chat more.
If you do have someopportunities, that's one way to
do it.
Another way to do is reach outto other consulting kind of
small business consultants inthe public health space and see
if they want to outsource someof their work and subcontract
out to you.
So different ways for you tomake these small career moves
(27:26):
without completely changing yourjob.
Especially in, I think, thecurrent market right now, with
all the instability, the fundingcuts, if you have a role that's
stable, it's paying your bills,you're getting income, it's
probably a good idea to kind offind other creative ways to
(27:48):
advance in your career and Ithink those could look like a
small project at work,volunteering or short term
consulting roles.
So, with this kind of strategy,I want you to identify one
small move that you can make inthe next 30 days and commit to
that and see where that takesyou.
(28:10):
Okay, so the final thing I wantto talk about.
So we talked about why careerplateaus happen in public health
.
Then we talked about how torecognize the signs that you're
currently experiencing that, andthen I gave you kind of five
(28:32):
actionable steps to break freeand kind of move forward so
you're not stuck in this feeling, right.
And now we're going to talkabout how to reignite your
passion for your work.
I think that the fivestrategies that we just talked
about, kind of those actionablesteps of reassessing your career
(28:54):
goals, expanding your skill set, seeking out a mentor, career
coach, networking and exploringnew opportunities, and then
making these small career moves,those are definitely going to
give you some motivation andit's going to give you some
excitement and reignite thatpassion.
But I think what you can do isdo some intentional reflecting
(29:21):
and intentional actions aroundreigniting that passion for your
work, right?
So, if you like, we chose thisfield public health because
there was some sort of aconnection to it, right, and we
love this field, we're able tohave great impact.
But when we think about thework that we're in, that we're
(29:42):
kind of like physically doing,we're just not feeling inspired
anymore, and you know when thathappens, it's important to
reconnect with why you started.
Right, like, why did you choosethis field amongst all the
other fields out there?
And what is it about this fieldthat kind of pulled you into it
(30:06):
and got you to invest all ofthese years and time and money
into a degree?
Right, so revisit your publichealth.
Why, like, what made you enterthis field?
For me, like I talk about it, Ithink, in some of my newsletters
and content that I post onLinkedIn, I think for me it's.
(30:33):
It was.
I think I didn't identify it atfirst when I first chose this
field, but there was somethingabout the way we had impact at,
like, these massive, largepopulation levels that really
connected with my values and Iand I didn't understand that
till very recently when I wasdoing these reflections um, that
(30:55):
I have a certain set of values,right, and so when those values
aligned with the work and theimpact I was having, um, I knew
that it was a really good fitfor me, like this area of work,
because I couldn't see myselfgetting excited about working I
(31:17):
don't know at Uber, for example,or like a company where the end
goal is to deliver on something, but I have no personal like
attachment, connection ormotivation for that final goal
here.
With public health, I know thatthe vision and that final goal
(31:44):
objective of any role in publichealth is to ensure that human
beings live a healthy life andthey're able to exist in this
world and have everythingthey've ever dreamed of, and I
think the the foundation of thatis good health, and so that's a
(32:04):
vision, that's an idea that Ican get, get behind, I can get
motivated by, and so sometimeswhen we're in these roles as I'm
a health economist or I'm apolicy analyst we might lose
sight of that connection back tous, like ourselves and why we
(32:26):
chose this field.
So take some time to mayberevisit that.
Why take some time to mayberevisit that?
Why and in my experience it hastaken more than one session to
do that reflection and you kindof have to do it over and over
again.
It's not something that you doonce and you forget about it
(32:47):
right.
So that's one way to reigniteyour passion for your work.
Another one goes back to thatnetworking piece, but what you
can do as like a specific actionstep is to attend public health
conferences large ones, smallones, whatever size and meet
like-minded people.
Like the in-person connectionwith individuals in a space
(33:11):
where it's just buzzing withthat energy of this space that
we're all collectively in isgoing to reignite your passion
for sure.
Right like hands down, you geta room full of like public
health professionals talkingabout, um, the work they're
doing, the impact it's having onthe world.
(33:32):
That's definitely going to likereally re-energize you.
Um.
Another one that's kind of likemy favorite and something that I
really, really, really believein is to work on a passion
project that excites you.
For me, it's PH Spot.
This is my passion project.
It's's uh grown over the pasteight years to what it is today.
(33:54):
I would not have imagined it tobe this big.
It started off as a small blogand newsletter.
It was a passion project, umthat I did on the weekends and
evenings and still do these onthe weekends and evenings, um,
and now we have a team of youknow, three other individuals
(34:14):
who are helping me with PH spot,and it's something that, um,
when things aren't going as asplanned or I'm feeling stuck in
other areas of my life, it is aarea that I can come to and
reignite that passion.
But that's not to say thatsometimes, you know, ph spot
ends up, that they ends up beingthe thing that burns me out or
(34:38):
that I really need to take abreak from because it's it's
just like too much work for me.
So it's not to say that yourpassion project is going to be
perfect, but it is a way for youto be creative, a channel for
you to reignite your passion.
(34:58):
So, you know, I've seen anywherefrom launching a podcast, maybe
launching a YouTube channelabout talking about a topic that
you're interested in.
Maybe written format is yourway of kind of communicating.
You can choose that.
Some other ideas include maybewriting a book.
(35:21):
I know a couple people who havewritten books with their public
health backgrounds.
So just lots of ideas, and somaybe starting this passion
project is what's going toreignite your passion for your
work.
I will put in a plug here tosay that inside the membership
community, I recently launched afour part workshop series
(35:44):
titled Launch your Idea, and sowe just had our first workshop,
talking about like more likeintroductory stuff, about
launching an idea, and thenwe're going to have, uh,
different office hours and worksessions to um, help people
inside the community who areinterested in launching an idea
to um.
(36:05):
I think it's like by mid-aprilto may, you're going to have
your idea out in the world.
So that's my goal to helppeople.
So, if that sounds interesting,definitely join me inside the
Public Health Career Club,phspotorg slash club should give
you all the information youneed.
But, yeah, you know, reignitingyour passion for your work is
(36:26):
kind of the final thing I wantedto talk about.
Talk about, so, to recap today'sepisode on, like career
plateaus and navigating thatperiod of your life and getting
unstuck, know that careerplateaus happen, right.
So we all go through them, likeevery single person probably
(36:50):
has gone through it many timesbut know that they are temporary
.
You need to identify why it isthat you're feeling stuck.
Is it a lack of challenge, isit a lack of clarity or is it a
lack of opportunity?
Right?
So get clear on why it is thatyou're feeling stuck.
Next, you need to commit totaking action.
(37:11):
So you got to set some newcareer goals, Um, you got to
expand on your skills and yougot to get support.
Don't do this alone, okay, um.
And then we want to likereignite our passion.
So there are many ways that youcan do that.
Um, and I gave you a few waysto get excited and and um, and
(37:32):
ignite that passion again foryour career.
So that was a lot that wetalked about.
I want to challenge you tochoose one action step from
today's episode and to commit todoing it this week.
Okay, and tell me about it.
So, either me on linkedin um, Ithink if you're listening to
(37:54):
this episode on spotify or otheruh platforms, there's a new
cool feature that I just enabledwhere you can actually like,
text us right on the episode, um, any feedback that you have.
So try that out and I'll see ifI, if it comes up, um us on our
end.
And if you found this episodehelpful, share it with a friend,
(38:16):
share it on your socials, shareit with a colleague, because
they might be feeling stuck too,and it's a great way to bond
with your colleagues and friendsand kind of help each other
through it.
Remember, don't do it alone, doit with the community, do it
with a group of people and don'tforget to subscribe so that you
(38:39):
never miss an episode, and justwant to say thank you for
tuning in to another episode ofthe PH Spotlight podcast.
Until next time, keep growing,keep making an impact.
And I just want to say thankyou for all the work that you're
doing in public health.
We do amazing work, butsometimes we also need help.
So I think it's an excellentarea to be in and it's okay to
(39:00):
feel stuck, because we'lldefinitely navigate it.
We're smart people and we'llget through it.
Just be kind to yourself andhave some patience and you will
get through it with some action.
Welcome to PHSpotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too, your host,
sujani Siva from PHSpot.
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of the PHSpot podcast.
This is a place where we sharestories, inspiration and
(00:25):
guidance to help you build yourdream public health career.
And this is Sujani, your host.
And today we're going to talkabout something that many
professionals experience,including myself, but sometimes
I don't have the words to talkabout it, or maybe we just don't
feel like anyone's going tounderstand, and that's the topic
(00:49):
of career plateaus.
And so this is that feeling ofjust feeling stuck in your
public health career, right, somaybe you've been in the same
role for years and you don't seea path forward.
Or maybe you've applied to newopportunities because you feel
that sense of like wanting to dosomething new, but then you
(01:11):
keep hitting a wall, and thisfeeling of stagnation can often
bring a lot of frustration andeven possibly kind of like
feeling discouraged, right, andI want you to know that you are
not alone and, more importantly,you won't be stuck forever.
So this is something that I'vefelt, I think, in the past year
(01:37):
or two, and I can't confidentlysay that I've kind of navigated
past this feeling of feelingstuck essentially, but I'm
working towards it and I wantedto share that just to give you a
sense of perhaps you know thelength of time that you may be
(01:58):
in this period.
It's not something that I thinkyou can figure out overnight.
It definitely requires a lot ofwork on your end but also a lot
of patience and kindness andgrace.
So just wanted to start offwith that.
So in today's episode we'regoing to break down this idea of
(02:19):
a career plateau by talkingabout why they exist, how you
can maybe recognize the signsthat you are potentially in this
period of feeling stuck,actionable steps that you can
take to break free and moveforward, and then also how to
reignite your passion for thework that you're doing right.
(02:41):
So by the end of this episode Ireally hope that you can walk
away with a clear action plan tonavigate this stage of your
career and just feel like youhave a lot of confidence and
that you have a plan right andknow that it's not going to like
the plan's not going to besomething that you implement
(03:01):
overnight and then boom, you'reout of that feeling of feeling
stuck essentially.
So grab a notebook, settle inand let's get started.
So let's start by talking aboutwhy career plateaus happen in
our careers, in public health,and you know, I bet, that if
(03:22):
you're feeling stuck, there'sprobably a reason behind it,
right?
And from talking to differentindividuals in our community
mentoring and even kind of myown personal experience often I
think the reason falls into oneof these categories.
The reason falls into one ofthese categories.
(03:44):
Number one you've outgrown yourcurrent role, so you feel like
you're doing the same work overand over again, without new
challenges.
You maybe feel like you coulddo your job in your sleep, right
?
It's just this repetitive thingand you're not learning
anything new, and so you arejust going through the motion
(04:05):
and it's just not challenging.
So, essentially, you'veoutgrown your current role.
That could be a reason.
The second reason could be thatyou're lacking career clarity,
so you're unsure about what'snext for you.
You've tried looking at otherjob posting, but nothing is
really exciting.
You, you've tried looking atother job posting, but nothing
(04:27):
is really exciting.
You, and you feel unmotivated,even though you once really
loved this work.
Right?
I know, for me, the reason Ieven started PH Spot was because
I was in this area of lackingclarity and I didn't know what
(04:48):
was next for me, and so ph spotessentially became a channel
through which I was able to findanswers for myself and other
people that were kind ofexperiencing the same thing and
really look for advice andsupport and create a community.
So it's something that I'vefelt very early on in my career
(05:09):
and I think it's something thatI've felt at different periods
of the past 12 years of mypublic health career.
So that's number two.
Number three is maybe a littlebit related to number one and
two.
It's that you're not seeing anygrowth opportunities right?
So you're in this role at anorganization and there's really
(05:31):
no room for promotion in yourcurrent job and you've tried
taking on more responsibilitiesbut it's really not leading you
anywhere and maybe you feel likeyour skills aren't being valued
or recognized, feel like yourskills aren't being valued or
recognized.
So it's really about not seeingany growth at this current
organization or this currentrole.
(05:52):
Number four could be burnoutand lack of motivation.
That could be another reasonthat you're experiencing this
career plateau.
So you are feeling mentallydrained from your work.
You're no longer excited aboutpublic health, for whatever
reason.
You know everything that'shappening in the news, just
feeling defeated, and so everyday just kind of feels like
(06:15):
another day at work andnothing's really inspiring you,
because maybe it's justfrustration over frustration or
being overworked and being kindof like burnt out in your role,
right.
So these are kind of fourreasons that I think individuals
, myself included mightexperience a career plateau.
(06:37):
And the good news is we canbreak out of it, right, and
we're going to talk about that.
But kind of just recognizingthat you know other people
definitely go through it thesecould be potentially some
reasons that you areexperiencing it, and maybe even
just identifying which of thesereasons kind of align with your
(06:59):
current situation will behelpful, okay, so next we're
going to talk about how torecognize the signs of a career
plateau, and so I want you totake a moment to maybe do a
little bit of a reflection,because career plateaus don't
always feel obvious right away.
(07:19):
So I remember for myself, um,kind of five years, four or five
years into my first publichealth job, one that you know I
absolutely loved, learned somuch, was excited about Um, but
after kind of four years I didfeel myself a little bit more
(07:41):
anxious and wanting a wantingsomething different, wanting
something more, a little bitmore anxious and wanting
something different, wantingsomething more.
And so I think, identifyingthose feelings, how your body is
feeling, it's really helpfulfor you to take the next step.
So what you can do is maybe askyourself some of these questions
to really help you figurethings out right.
(08:02):
So here are four questions thatyou can ask.
First one is do I feel like I'mgrowing in my career right now?
Number two am I learning newskills or being challenged?
Number three do I feel excitedabout my work?
Maybe, at least like some ofthe time right, and when I think
about my future in publichealth, do I feel clear and
(08:25):
hopeful?
And if you answered no to mostof these questions, it's
probably time that you tookaction, because you probably
don't want to remain in thisstate.
We want to work on ourselves, wewant to figure out an actual
plan and we want to move pastthis phase, this period, and we
(08:51):
really like break free from this, like plateau that we're
feeling.
So you know you're feelingstuck and now you're like okay,
I've identified that I am inthis phase and these are the
things that I'm feeling.
Now you want to commit togetting unstuck essentially
(09:12):
right, and we'll go through fivestrategies that I've kind of
used and I'm currently using tohelp me navigate this period.
The first one is to reassessyour career goals.
Have your career interestschanged since you first started?
(09:32):
Maybe you entered public healththinking you wanted to work in
epidemiology.
But now, having worked in thefield of epidemiology, you've
also been exposed to a littlebit of health policy and you're
realizing that there's a littlebit of excitement that you feel
(09:53):
whenever you get to provideinput in those pieces of work.
So take the time to reflect atthis phase of your current
career, where do you want to gonext?
And I found that for me I wasworking as an epidemiologist for
(10:15):
several years probably aboutseven years and at that point I
made a conscious decision that Ino longer wanted to proceed as
an epidemiologist.
I couldn't see myself kind ofdeveloping additional skills and
becoming an expert as anepidemiologist and I wanted to
(10:39):
take a different path for mycareer, path for my career.
So about at the seven year markI did make that conscious
decision and I tried a differentarea of work in the same
organization.
So that was kind of my firstpoint in assessing like was the
thing that excited me sevenyears ago or, you know, nine
(11:02):
years ago when I started gradschool.
Still exciting me now?
And at that point it was no.
And then, interestingly enough,when I went on maternity leave,
so I think that was at the 10year mark.
That was another moment ofrealization and I think I'm
still in that phase of trying tofigure out what is my current
(11:23):
interest.
Because what I'm still in thatphase of trying to figure out
what is my current interest,because what I'm realizing is
that I was, and have beenchasing a lot of the goals that
I had put down for myself when Ifirst started off in public
health almost 12 years ago.
I started grad school in 2011and it's 2025, and I hadn't
(11:49):
realized that all the goals andkind of like things I was aiming
for and trying to achieve wereall based on that.
You know, 20 something year oldme, and I'm realizing now that
you know, maybe the reason thatI'm not getting excited about
(12:09):
them at the moment is becausethey are no longer aligned with
the me of now, like 2025.
A lot of things have changedfrom then to now, like I've
moved so many times, um, I'vegotten married, I've become a
mother.
So many things have changed inmy life.
I've moved so many times, I'vegotten married, I've become a
mother.
So many things have changed inmy life I've kind of like
matured.
(12:30):
So I think it's a really goodtime, if you're feeling that
career plateau, to reassess yourcareer goals and think about
your career interests and whereit is at this point in time you
would like to go, right?
So maybe one thing you can dois write down three roles or
(12:51):
fields that interest you andthen start researching them.
Right, talking to people aboutit, reading about it.
We have about 160 odd episodeson the podcast.
Many of them are interviewswith other public health
professionals.
We have a blog whereindividuals have submitted their
career reflections.
(13:12):
So search those up and see ifyou can learn a little bit more
about these different areas.
So that's kind of action.
Number one, right, reassessingyour career goal.
Number two is to expand yourskill set, right?
So sometimes plateaus happenbecause you need a new challenge
(13:34):
, right?
So maybe there's a newtechnical skill like data
visualization or healtheconomics or policy analysis
that you'd like to developbecause you see that it keeps
coming up in your work, right?
So maybe you're doing your work, and every time there's a data
visualization need, you feelfrustrated because you can't do
(13:57):
it yourself and it is somethingthat you would enjoy doing, and
so it's often a piece of workthat you're outsourcing to
another colleague.
So maybe it's time for you toexpand your skill set right, so
you could do this through shortonline courses or certifications
that align with your interest.
Often organizations will havesome career development funds
(14:20):
that you can use towards this,but there are also lots of free
resources online, so expandingyour skill set is another way to
kind of breaking out of thatfeeling of feeling stuck right.
So, for me, another realizationI had was that since grad school
(14:47):
, I had not personally investedin kind of traditional learning
or consciously taken a course tohelp me develop a new skill.
I've been working onstrengthening existing skills,
(15:10):
but there has been nothing newthat I have picked up or
committed to learning throughsome sort of like a course or
certification, and I realizedthat a lot of the strengthening
of skills that I've been doinghave been on the job or they've
(15:30):
been through like mentorship andnothing more of like a formal
process, and so something that Iam hoping to do in the year
this year is to kind of thinkabout going back to number one,
like reflecting a little bitmore about what is a new skill
(15:51):
set that I would like to developthat's going to help me in my
career and kind of like thefuture of my career, right.
So the second one is to thinkabout like are there any skill
sets that you would like todevelop and kind of like expand
on that to develop and kind oflike expand on that.
Number three is to seek out amentor or a career coach,
(16:22):
because sometimes when we'restuck right, we can only see a
certain way, right.
So having a mentor or some sortof a coach help you change that
mindset, reframe some of thethings that you're saying to
yourself can really give youclarity and perspective on your
next steps, hidden strengths andopportunities and essentially
(16:48):
put you on a path to doing likemore reflection and taking more
action.
And it's just you need somebodythat kind of understands you
and your field to help you likeget unstuck.
So imagine you're like in this,like really gooey mud, and your
(17:10):
feet are just stuck in there andyou're like giving up giving up
because you've tried everythingand then somebody gives you a
hand and they just like pull youout a little bit and then
you're like back on and you'reable to kind of navigate through
your path right.
So I want you to seriouslyconsider reaching out, talking
to somebody, because what I'verealized I do a lot of
(17:32):
one-on-one mentorship inside thePHSpot community is that a lot
of individuals will come to meto say like I haven't found a
job or I don't know where to gonext, and I don't necessarily
need to give them the answerLike I don't need to give them
what exactly their next stepshould be, nor do I need to find
(17:56):
them a job but I just need toask them a few questions, give
them some ideas and you know,within like 30 minutes I see a
completely different excitementthat they have, because they
just feel like somebody's pulledthem out of that like really
icky mud and they feel like theycan get back onto the path and
(18:20):
kind of like continue navigatingthrough this journey.
So talking to a mentor or coachsomebody will really help you
get unstuck.
So, as an action step, reachout to somebody in your network
who could offer career guidance,because it's really going to
help you and for me, I think oneof the most like of the most
(18:53):
like pivotal moments.
That has helped me in thesepast two or so years I think
it's a little bit more than twoyears where I've been feeling a
bit stuck, has been going tolike this workshop where we had
to do a lot of self reflectionabout ourselves and where we are
in our lives, and then alsospeaking to a career coach.
I think those two combined Icould say those have been some
pivotal moments in my journey ofgetting a little bit unstuck.
(19:15):
That has helped me and that haskind of given me these aha
moments like, oh okay, yes, Iget why I've been kind of
thinking this way and thisperson has helped me think a
different way and that has kindof opened up some possibilities
in my head, right.
(19:36):
So, number three seek out somesort of mentorship or coaching
support.
Reach out to people in yourcommunity, in your network.
If you feel like you don't haveone, come join the PH Spot
community.
We have a membership communitycalled the Public Health Career
Club.
We do anything from likeworkshops and talks, but we also
(20:00):
have office hours where you candrop in with our wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful mentors whoare able to help you through
just getting unstuck answeringsome questions, and then we also
have one-on-one mentorshipwhere you can book some time
with our mentors and talk tothem about your specific problem
, and we have like social hoursso you can talk to your peers.
(20:22):
So just a wonderful communitywhere you can get this kind of
support.
Number four, with kind ofactionable steps to getting
unstuck, is to network andexplore new opportunities.
Often we can feel like we'restuck because we're only looking
inside our current workplacefor new opportunities or to find
(20:48):
some inspiration.
But if you can step outsideyour current bubble and talk to
new people, people in differentareas of public health there may
be roles or areas of work thatyou haven't even considered yet,
right?
So I think if you can meetpeople who are doing completely
(21:13):
different work, just to have afriendly conversation, to
understand you know what it isthey've done, how have they
navigated their career it'lloften give you a little bit more
like inspiration, motivation tobe like okay, like you know,
they've done something prettycool with a similar, with like
similar experience as me.
(21:34):
It just gives you thosepossibilities and if you're
feeling shy, to kind of likereach out to people at this
moment, the podcast, like Imentioned, has wonderful
interviews with other publichealth individuals and if you
can just listen to a few ofthose and get a little bit more
excited, maybe that'll give youa bit more confidence to reach
(21:56):
out.
And what I want you to do isset up informational interviews,
and so these are essentiallyshort calls with individuals
just to ask them about theircareer journey.
And so set some sort of a goalfor yourself, like maybe you
want to talk to one new personevery month who works in a field
(22:19):
that you're just curious aboutand think creatively.
Right, don't just stick to yourorganization or your city.
Reach out to people around theworld.
The goal here is to really helpyou one network, build your
relationships, explore what'spossible out there and then also
(22:41):
reignite that passion I knowfor me, when I do these podcast
episodes and I interview guestson the podcast, I feel like I am
like vicariously living thatlife and I'm able to get re
excited and and feel likethere's different opportunities
(23:04):
for me to like explore.
A quick story I'll tell you.
I was mentoring somebodyyesterday through our one-on-one
mentorship session and she hasa background in, like, public
health inspection.
So a lot of the opportunitiesshe was looking for were the
traditional public healthinspector role in local health
(23:27):
units, and so when we gottalking we were able to
brainstorm other areas that shecould use her expertise, right.
So we have the hospitalityindustry.
So they often will hireinfection prevention type
professionals to ensure thathotels or cruises are up to
standard.
That, like, hotels or cruisesare up to standard.
(23:50):
Even I think I recently saw amanager of public health role at
Disney or nursing homes, right.
So you kind of are, when youtalk to other people, you're
able to expand on theopportunities that exist for you
, on the opportunities thatexist for you, and that
(24:12):
reignites that passion because,um, you've just been stuck in
this like maybe one box that youyou thought of.
Okay, so that was number four.
Number five, um, is a big oneand it's to make a small career
move, um, and I want to say that, like you don't have to switch
jobs overnight.
That's not the main point here.
A small career move can looklike taking on a new project at
(24:36):
work.
So talk to your manager, yoursupervisor, whoever you're
reporting to, and kind ofexplain to them that you are
wanting a new challenge, right?
So tell them.
You know I'm able to completemy work and I am doing an
exceptional job, but I reallyalso want to develop my skills
(24:56):
in data visualization, mayberight.
So is it possible for me totake on this new project I heard
you talk about and perhapssupport the lead so that I could
develop this new skill set?
So talk to your manager aboutthat.
Another way to make a smallcareer move is to volunteer in a
(25:17):
different area of public health.
So if you've been working moreon like research or like really
high level stuff, and you reallylike to be part of community
initiatives, community outreach,perhaps there's a local
not-for-profit organization thatyou could go and work once a
(25:38):
week for a couple of hours to dosome community engagement
activities, and that will alsohelp you develop some new skills
but also reignite that passionthat you had for public health.
Another thing you could do ifyou have a little bit more time
is to apply for short-termconsulting roles.
(25:59):
Right, there are RFPs, so theseare requests for proposals that
organizations will put out whenthey need a consultant to do a
small project within apredetermined time frame, and so
perhaps you could apply to oneof those and do a short term
(26:19):
consulting role.
You know, the bonus here is youare developing new skills.
You're, you know building upsomething for yourself and
you're going to get paid too,and you know adding a little bit
more to your salary is probablyone of the something that
doesn't hurt.
And so you know RFPs are oneway to take on short term
consulting roles.
(26:40):
But you can also reach out tomaybe past organizations you've
been part of past colleagues,maybe within other organizations
and just pitch the idea, say,hey, you know I am great at data
analysis and if there's anywork that your organization
needs done this year, I amavailable and these are my rates
(27:03):
and I'd love to chat more.
If you do have someopportunities, that's one way to
do it.
Another way to do is reach outto other consulting kind of
small business consultants inthe public health space and see
if they want to outsource someof their work and subcontract
out to you.
So different ways for you tomake these small career moves
(27:26):
without completely changing yourjob.
Especially in, I think, thecurrent market right now, with
all the instability, the fundingcuts, if you have a role that's
stable, it's paying your bills,you're getting income, it's
probably a good idea to kind offind other creative ways to
(27:48):
advance in your career and Ithink those could look like a
small project at work,volunteering or short term
consulting roles.
So, with this kind of strategy,I want you to identify one
small move that you can make inthe next 30 days and commit to
that and see where that takesyou.
(28:10):
Okay, so the final thing I wantto talk about.
So we talked about why careerplateaus happen in public health
.
Then we talked about how torecognize the signs that you're
currently experiencing that, andthen I gave you kind of five
(28:32):
actionable steps to break freeand kind of move forward so
you're not stuck in this feeling, right.
And now we're going to talkabout how to reignite your
passion for your work.
I think that the fivestrategies that we just talked
about, kind of those actionablesteps of reassessing your career
(28:54):
goals, expanding your skill set, seeking out a mentor, career
coach, networking and exploringnew opportunities, and then
making these small career moves,those are definitely going to
give you some motivation andit's going to give you some
excitement and reignite thatpassion.
But I think what you can do isdo some intentional reflecting
(29:21):
and intentional actions aroundreigniting that passion for your
work, right?
So, if you like, we chose thisfield public health because
there was some sort of aconnection to it, right, and we
love this field, we're able tohave great impact.
But when we think about thework that we're in, that we're
(29:42):
kind of like physically doing,we're just not feeling inspired
anymore, and you know when thathappens, it's important to
reconnect with why you started.
Right, like, why did you choosethis field amongst all the
other fields out there?
And what is it about this fieldthat kind of pulled you into it
(30:06):
and got you to invest all ofthese years and time and money
into a degree?
Right, so revisit your publichealth.
Why, like, what made you enterthis field?
For me, like I talk about it, Ithink, in some of my newsletters
and content that I post onLinkedIn, I think for me it's.
(30:33):
It was.
I think I didn't identify it atfirst when I first chose this
field, but there was somethingabout the way we had impact at,
like, these massive, largepopulation levels that really
connected with my values and Iand I didn't understand that
till very recently when I wasdoing these reflections um, that
(30:55):
I have a certain set of values,right, and so when those values
aligned with the work and theimpact I was having, um, I knew
that it was a really good fitfor me, like this area of work,
because I couldn't see myselfgetting excited about working I
(31:17):
don't know at Uber, for example,or like a company where the end
goal is to deliver on something, but I have no personal like
attachment, connection ormotivation for that final goal
here.
With public health, I know thatthe vision and that final goal
(31:44):
objective of any role in publichealth is to ensure that human
beings live a healthy life andthey're able to exist in this
world and have everythingthey've ever dreamed of, and I
think the the foundation of thatis good health, and so that's a
(32:04):
vision, that's an idea that Ican get, get behind, I can get
motivated by, and so sometimeswhen we're in these roles as I'm
a health economist or I'm apolicy analyst we might lose
sight of that connection back tous, like ourselves and why we
(32:26):
chose this field.
So take some time to mayberevisit that.
Why take some time to mayberevisit that?
Why and in my experience it hastaken more than one session to
do that reflection and you kindof have to do it over and over
again.
It's not something that you doonce and you forget about it
(32:47):
right.
So that's one way to reigniteyour passion for your work.
Another one goes back to thatnetworking piece, but what you
can do as like a specific actionstep is to attend public health
conferences large ones, smallones, whatever size and meet
like-minded people.
Like the in-person connectionwith individuals in a space
(33:11):
where it's just buzzing withthat energy of this space that
we're all collectively in isgoing to reignite your passion
for sure.
Right like hands down, you geta room full of like public
health professionals talkingabout, um, the work they're
doing, the impact it's having onthe world.
(33:32):
That's definitely going to likereally re-energize you.
Um.
Another one that's kind of likemy favorite and something that I
really, really, really believein is to work on a passion
project that excites you.
For me, it's PH Spot.
This is my passion project.
It's's uh grown over the pasteight years to what it is today.
(33:54):
I would not have imagined it tobe this big.
It started off as a small blogand newsletter.
It was a passion project, umthat I did on the weekends and
evenings and still do these onthe weekends and evenings, um,
and now we have a team of youknow, three other individuals
(34:14):
who are helping me with PH spot,and it's something that, um,
when things aren't going as asplanned or I'm feeling stuck in
other areas of my life, it is aarea that I can come to and
reignite that passion.
But that's not to say thatsometimes, you know, ph spot
ends up, that they ends up beingthe thing that burns me out or
(34:38):
that I really need to take abreak from because it's it's
just like too much work for me.
So it's not to say that yourpassion project is going to be
perfect, but it is a way for youto be creative, a channel for
you to reignite your passion.
(34:58):
So, you know, I've seen anywherefrom launching a podcast, maybe
launching a YouTube channelabout talking about a topic that
you're interested in.
Maybe written format is yourway of kind of communicating.
You can choose that.
Some other ideas include maybewriting a book.
(35:21):
I know a couple people who havewritten books with their public
health backgrounds.
So just lots of ideas, and somaybe starting this passion
project is what's going toreignite your passion for your
work.
I will put in a plug here tosay that inside the membership
community, I recently launched afour part workshop series
(35:44):
titled Launch your Idea, and sowe just had our first workshop,
talking about like more likeintroductory stuff, about
launching an idea, and thenwe're going to have, uh,
different office hours and worksessions to um, help people
inside the community who areinterested in launching an idea
to um.
(36:05):
I think it's like by mid-aprilto may, you're going to have
your idea out in the world.
So that's my goal to helppeople.
So, if that sounds interesting,definitely join me inside the
Public Health Career Club,phspotorg slash club should give
you all the information youneed.
But, yeah, you know, reignitingyour passion for your work is
(36:26):
kind of the final thing I wantedto talk about.
Talk about, so, to recap today'sepisode on, like career
plateaus and navigating thatperiod of your life and getting
unstuck, know that careerplateaus happen, right.
So we all go through them, likeevery single person probably
(36:50):
has gone through it many timesbut know that they are temporary
.
You need to identify why it isthat you're feeling stuck.
Is it a lack of challenge, isit a lack of clarity or is it a
lack of opportunity?
Right?
So get clear on why it is thatyou're feeling stuck.
Next, you need to commit totaking action.
(37:11):
So you got to set some newcareer goals, Um, you got to
expand on your skills and yougot to get support.
Don't do this alone, okay, um.
And then we want to likereignite our passion.
So there are many ways that youcan do that.
Um, and I gave you a few waysto get excited and and um, and
(37:32):
ignite that passion again foryour career.
So that was a lot that wetalked about.
I want to challenge you tochoose one action step from
today's episode and to commit todoing it this week.
Okay, and tell me about it.
So, either me on linkedin um, Ithink if you're listening to
(37:54):
this episode on spotify or otheruh platforms, there's a new
cool feature that I just enabledwhere you can actually like,
text us right on the episode, um, any feedback that you have.
So try that out and I'll see ifI, if it comes up, um us on our
end.
And if you found this episodehelpful, share it with a friend,
(38:16):
share it on your socials, shareit with a colleague, because
they might be feeling stuck too,and it's a great way to bond
with your colleagues and friendsand kind of help each other
through it.
Remember, don't do it alone, doit with the community, do it
with a group of people and don'tforget to subscribe so that you
(38:39):
never miss an episode, and justwant to say thank you for
tuning in to another episode ofthe PH Spotlight podcast.
Until next time, keep growing,keep making an impact.
And I just want to say thankyou for all the work that you're
doing in public health.
We do amazing work, butsometimes we also need help.
So I think it's an excellentarea to be in and it's okay to
(39:00):
feel stuck, because we'lldefinitely navigate it.
We're smart people and we'llget through it.
Just be kind to yourself andhave some patience and you will
get through it with some action.
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